Movies

Sundance by the numbers

For 10 days in January, the movie world converges on Park City, Utah, to join the frenzy at the Sundance Film Festival. Deals are made. Careers are launched. The latest and brightest features either flop or fly. Below, a quick sampling of all that is Sundance,

from the thousands of hopefuls who've submitted masterpieces waiting to be discovered to the millions of dollars wagered by production companies on the festival's hottest flicks.

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The films

Films submitted to the festival: 5,357

Films chosen for screening: 219

Feature-length films: 129

Short films: 90

Fee for entering a feature-length film: $50

Fee for submitting a short: $20

Feature films that got distribution deals last year: at least 22

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Big spender studios

Amount Miramax paid for distribution rights to "Tadpole": $5 million

Amount Fox Searchlight paid for rights to "The Dancer Upstairs": $2.5 million

Amount Fox Searchlight paid for rights to "The Good Girl": $4 million

Amount "The Good Girl" has grossed in North American theaters: $14 million.

Amount United Artists paid for rights to "Personal Velocity": $1 million

Sony Pictures Classics' tab for rights to "Love Liza": $2 million

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The rivals

Number of rival film festivals in Park City: at least 6, including Slamdance, SlamDunk, No Dance, Lapdance, X-Dance, TromaDance

Films invited to screen at Slamdance: 28

Films submitted to Slamdance: 2,800

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The history

Year the Sundance Institute was born: 1981

Year the Sundance Film Festival began (under that name): 1991

Typical attendee tally: 20,000

Festival days: 10

Films screened in one day: up to 20

Years Sundance has used digital projectors: 6

Percentage of films to be screened in digital format: 30

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The weather

Average January temperature in Park City: 12 to 33 degrees

Average snowfall in January: 30.8 inches

Avalanche report: Utah is experiencing "what could be the longest continuous string of human-triggered slides," according to www.avalanche.org. The site's avalanche danger rating on Thursday: low to moderate for Park City.

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Dollars and cents

Cost of the Sundance "Adrenaline Pass," which includes admission to all screenings before 10 a.m. and after 10 p.m. and admission to all scheduled evening parties: $350

Cost to park at Park City High School throughout the festival with the "Eccles Center Parking Pass": $200

Amount you'll pay to get your car back if it gets towed: $125 minimum

Cost of the Sundance "Express Pass," which includes admission to all screenings at all theaters, panel discussions and scheduled evening parties: $2,500

Admission to one movie: $10

People on the wait list: up to 100, one hour before screening, holding numbered cards, cash only. Per the festival's official "How to Sundance" guide: "The Wait List is one of the best ways to meet people at the film festival.... It's cold. Someone goes for coffee. The idea spreads.... The energy builds. Then they let you in!"

Sum paid by Lions Gate for distribution rights to "Secretary" after it screened at Sundance: $1 million

Feature films premiering at Sundance: 18

Feature films premiering at Sundance that are directed by women: 0

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The hangouts

Theaters where films will be shown (including Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance Village): 12

Hangouts named for animals: 6. The two within the official Sundance complex are Elks Lodge and Owl Bar (a restored 1890s bar that was once a popular hangout for Butch Cassidy's Hole-in-the-Wall Gang).

After-hours creepy screenings: 1, Park City at Midnight, for horror, the surreal, explicit and bizarre. Some films that came out of this "after hours" fete: "The Blair Witch Project," "Cube," "Delicatessen."

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Creature comforts

Portable food: Cheesecake on a Stick from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

Toast of the fest: Holly Hunter (recipient of the 2003 Sundance Institute Tribute to Independent Vision and star of this year's festival opener "Levity.")

What they're ordering at the No Name Saloon: the locals, beer and tequila shots; the tourists, Irish coffee and martinis

Percentage of alcohol in beer sold at convenience stores as mandated by Utah liquor laws: 3.2%

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The lodging

Guest cottages in Sundance Village: 95

Rent on a four-bedroom Sundance Resort Mountain Home in Provo, with fireplace, wood stove and view of aspen grove and Mt. Timpanagos: $1,300 per night